CITY STREETS SPORT NEW TREE PLANTINGS.

Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard

Jeff Lanza is passionate about trees.

Making a quick check of a nearby ponderosa pine along Harlow Road on Saturday, Lanza knew what would best fit the neighborhood. Not just any tree will do when it comes to providing shade to the city's landscape.

Hawthornes and flowering trees, such as cherry, bloom for only a brief time. So Lanza chose oak, maple and ash for their ample, long-lasting foliage.

On Saturday, Lanza, a member of the Eugene Tree Foundation, and about two dozen volunteers planted 34 trees along a four-block stretch, from Bertha Holt Elementary School to North Garden Way.

The Eugene Tree Foundation, formed in 1998 to enhance the city's urban forest, sponsored the event. Since its inception, the group has concentrated on planting trees in the downtown area. Now, the tree advocacy group is branching out to Eugene's busy arterials and neighborhoods, said Phillip Carroll, the organization's president.

The foundation will be planting trees later this year in the Jefferson Westside and South University neighborhoods.

The Harlow Road tree-planting will be done in three phases during the next few years as volunteers work their way toward Coburg Road, Carroll said.

"It's great to see (the volunteers) come out and enjoy themselves, and in doing so, benefit the community for generations to come," he said.

Beside their aesthetic appeal, trees provide shade, diminish storm water runoff, prevent soil erosion and provide habitat for wildlife, Carroll said.

At the intersection of Honeysuckle Lane and Harlow, Paul Beatty of Springfield tamped down the soil after planting an Oregon ash.

Beatty, who works as the general manager at the Red Lion Hotel in Eugene, said his employer encourages workers to volunteer in the community. About a half-dozen hotel employees participated in the tree planting. "We wanted to get out, get our hands dirty and help the community," he said.